(Struve channels his inner Keanu Reeves during his UFC 130 bout against Travis Browne.)
In a fight that is all but guaranteed to end in a decisive, if not brutally violent fashion, it appears that heavyweight contenders Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve and Mark “Mark” Hunt are set to collide at UFC 146, which now features an all heavyweight lineup as its main card for the first time in UFC history. Thank God it’s not being held at a high altitude.
We know what you’re thinking: WHY IS TIM SYLVIA NOT ON THIS CARD?!!!
Hunt has had perhaps the most startling career resurgence in recent memory, scoring three straight octagon victories over Chris Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell, and most recently Cheick Kongo, with two of those victories coming by way of destructive KO. This was made even more shocking due to the fact that Hunt was only picked up by the UFC in order to fulfill a contract he had signed back in his PRIDE days before the organization was absorbed by Zuffa.
Struve, on the other hand, will be looking to add another three fight win streak to his current 7-3 octagon record come May 26th. We last saw him at UFC on FUEL: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger, when he dispatched Manbearpig Dave Herman via second round TKO. Prior to that, Struve choked out our boy Pat Barry in the first round of their UFC Live 6 co-headliner bout.
UFC 146 transpires at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and features a main event title clash between Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.
In other fight booking news…
Light Heavyweight sluggers Igor Pokrajac and Fabio Maldonado are scheduled to square off at UFC on FUEL 3, which goes down on on May 15 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia and features a headlining possible number one contender bout between Dustin Poirier and Chan Sung Jung. Maldonado, who hasn’t fought since dropping a close decision to Kyle Kingsbury at the TUF 13 Finale, is stepping in to replace Thiago Silva, who in turn stepped in to replace Antonio Rogerio Nogueria against Alexander Gustafsson for the main event of UFC on FUEL 2.
The full event lineup for both UFC 146 and UFC on FUEL 3 is below.
UFC 146
Heavyweight Championship bout: Junior dos Santos (c) vs. Alistair Overeem
Heavyweight bout: Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir
Heavyweight bout: Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Silva
Heavyweight bout: Mark Hunt vs. Stefan Struve
Heavyweight Bout: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Del Rosario
Middleweight bout: Jason Miller vs. C.B. Dollaway
Welterweight bout: Dan Hardy vs. Duane Ludwig
Lightweight bout: Jacob Volkmann vs. Paul Sass
Featherweight bout: Darren Elkins vs. Diego Brandao
Light Heavyweight bout: Kyle Kingsbury vs. Glover Teixeira
UFC on FUEL 3
Featherweight bout: Dustin Poirier vs. Chan Sung Jung
Light Heavyweight bout: Fabio Maldonado vs. Igor Pokrajac
Lightweight bout: Donald Cerrone vs. Jeremy Stephens
Lightweight bout: Rafael dos Anjos vs. Kamal Shalorus
Lightweight bout: TJ Grant vs. Carlo Prater
Middleweight bout: Tom Lawlor vs. Jason MacDonald
Welterweight bout: Amir Sadollah vs. Jorge Lopez
Lightweight bout: Cody McKenzie vs. Aaron Riley
Middleweight bout: Brad Tavares vs. Dongi Yang
Bantamweight bout: Yves Jabouin vs. Mike Easton
Bantamweight bout: Jeff Curran vs. Johnny Eduardo
Bantamweight bout: Alex Soto vs. Azamat Gashimov
-J. Jones